The stage was set this week for no-holds-barred competition between the devolved UK meat bodies.
Quality Meat Scotland, Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) and the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX) will in future run their own beef and lamb marketing projects in rivalry with one another.
Their parent the Meat and Livestock Commission will only get involved in collaborative projects for beef and lamb.
With the slimming down of its central marketing team, some staff may get jobs at EBLEX, which is set to announce the
major elements of its advertising strategy for an English brand next month.
EBLEX chief executive David Croston said: “Our board has agreed the need for its own dedicated marketing team and we shall start recruiting at once.”
Meanwhile, pigmeat body BPEX remains British in scope.
MLC marketing director Richard Lowe said he expected some retailers to ask why the devolved bodies did not get together to promote meat instead of fighting among themselves. “You have to concede that the English producers deserve the right to compete against the Scots and Welsh in their own market.
“I do not think the three competing will hurt sales. They have a common interest in boosting demand when Over Thirty Month Scheme beef arrives on the market.
“We ourselves will not be closing the door on future collaboration, perhaps with regard to nutritional messages.
“They all have a positive environment in which to sell. Red meat consumption per capita is rising. And it has ceased to lose share to poultry.”
Lowe agreed regional brands under the English umbrella were a possibility but the decision lay with EBLEX.
Kit Davies
Quality Meat Scotland, Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) and the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX) will in future run their own beef and lamb marketing projects in rivalry with one another.
Their parent the Meat and Livestock Commission will only get involved in collaborative projects for beef and lamb.
With the slimming down of its central marketing team, some staff may get jobs at EBLEX, which is set to announce the
major elements of its advertising strategy for an English brand next month.
EBLEX chief executive David Croston said: “Our board has agreed the need for its own dedicated marketing team and we shall start recruiting at once.”
Meanwhile, pigmeat body BPEX remains British in scope.
MLC marketing director Richard Lowe said he expected some retailers to ask why the devolved bodies did not get together to promote meat instead of fighting among themselves. “You have to concede that the English producers deserve the right to compete against the Scots and Welsh in their own market.
“I do not think the three competing will hurt sales. They have a common interest in boosting demand when Over Thirty Month Scheme beef arrives on the market.
“We ourselves will not be closing the door on future collaboration, perhaps with regard to nutritional messages.
“They all have a positive environment in which to sell. Red meat consumption per capita is rising. And it has ceased to lose share to poultry.”
Lowe agreed regional brands under the English umbrella were a possibility but the decision lay with EBLEX.
Kit Davies
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